Travel

Sunday, April 28, 2013

I got an email from Utopia, a South Bay-based Japanese-focused gift certificate store offering discounted certificates for South Bay and Japanese local businesses like Gaja (the okonomiyaki place), Robataya on Sawtelle, and Izakaya Bincho. They asked if I wanted to try using one of their certificates to visit a restaurant, and I do love Japanese food so why not! I was tempted to go back to Bincho but I figured I should use it to visit a restaurant I've never been to before so I opted for Hironoya in Gardena.

Hironoya sits in Tozai Plaza and seems to be visited by mostly Japanese. When I was there there was a reunion for some university in Japan and they proceeded to sing their alma mater song. Hironoya serves sashimi, sushi rolls, tempura, udon and various other dishes, but no nigiri sushi.

They did have some fresh fish, though so I tried their blue fin tuna toro sashimi ($18 for 4 pieces). Not as fatty as some other toro I've had but definitely fresh.

Also tried sea bream sashimi ($9) and a salmon roll, which were both pretty good. I haven't had sushi rolls in a while but enjoyed this one.

You can get almost everything tempura'd here it seems, from broccoli and eggplant ($1.95, 2pcs each) to sea urchin ($12.95) and oyster ($4.95, 2pcs)

Good tempura batter here, light and crispy. Why didn't I order the uni tempura, whyyyy? I have to go back.

A staple order for me: Agedashi tofu ($4.95) and it didn't disappoint.

The nabeyaki udon ($13.95) is huge. I don't know if you can get the size comparison with the cup and bowl in this picture, but it was one big bowl.

The nabeyaki udon comes with 2 shrimp tempura, a generous helping of chicken and clams at the bottom of the bowl, and vegetables. Enough to share with 2-3 people, and it was very satisfying.

As with most Japanese restaurants, the dessert menu tends to be small, but I had a silky sweet tofu topped with brown sugar.

All in all, Hironoya was a great place. Authentic comfort food with something for everyone on their vast menu with rotating specials. Don't forget to check http://www.us-utopia.com/store/en and see if they have any discounted certificates left before you go. You can also check out Hironoya's Menu: